The holy martyrs Terence and his companions suffered under the emperor Decius (249-251). The emperor issued an edict commanding all subjects to offer sacrifices to the pagan idols. When Fortunianus, the governor of Africa, received this edict, he gathered the people in the city square, set out cruel instruments of torture and declared that everyone without exception had to offer the sacrifice to the idols. Many, afraid of torture, complied. However, St. Terence and forty other Christians bravely affirmed their faith in the Savior and ridiculed the idols. Fortunianus was amazed at their boldness and he asked how they, as rational people, could confess as God, One Whom the Jews crucified as a malefactor. St. Terence answered that their belief was in the Savior Who voluntarily endured death on the Cross and rose on the third day. Fortunianus saw that Terence inspired the others by his example, and so he ordered him to be isolated in prison with his three closest companions: Africanus, Maximus, and Pompeius. Fortunianus was determined to force the rest of the martyrs, including Zeno, Alexander, and Theodore, to renounce Christ.
O Lord our God, your holy martyrs have deserved the crown of immortality on account of their good fight. Armed with your strength, they have vanquished their persecutors and crushed Satan’s dreadful might. Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
The memory of the martyrdom of Terence has come again today, and it fills all of us with joy. Let us assemble together to receive cures from him and from those who suffered with him, for they received the grace of the Holy Spirit to heal the afflictions of our souls.
Genesis 46: 1-7
When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.”
Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.
Proverbs: 23:15 – 24:6
My child, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
My soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the Lord.
Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
Hear, my child, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.
Do not be among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat;
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
My child, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.
She lies in wait like a robber and increases the number of the faithless.
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Those who linger late over wine, those who keep trying mixed wines.
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind utter perverse things.
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
“They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”
Do not envy the wicked, nor desire to be with them; for their minds devise violence, and their lips talk of mischief.
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Wise warriors are mightier than strong ones, and those who have knowledge than those who have strength;
for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Wednesday, April 9 –
